Detroit’s Gotta Have Art

Just a few years ago, Detroit was at risk of loosing its prized art collection when the business community stepped into save our art and save Detroit. Today, we still stand to lose many of Detroit’s cultural resources, such as Detroit’s PUPPETart due to cuts in arts funding, hire rents and a lack of awareness. The fact is that art and culture remains a vital part of our world’s history and to diplomatic relations between nations and the vibrancy of any city.

Thanks to the support of many business leaders, Detroit’s art and culture scene remains strong and while always at risk of loosing resources, The Detroit Art Review (DAR) is working to raise awareness for the local arts community by exploring and reviewing everything art in the region. DAR satisfies a huge void since the loss of so many art reviewers in Metro Detroit due to staff cuts at newspapers and magazines, including arts reporters.

In the 1970’s the DIA ran a now iconic commercial titled, You’ve gotta have art and the Detroit Art Review gives us plenty to do and experience around arts and culture. Founded in January 2015 by Ron Scott Teachworth, AICA, a retired educator, now full-time writer and painter covers the vast amount of exhibits in Detroit with weekly reviews and commentary.

The DIA ranks in the top five museums in the United State States for the size of its collection and Detroit has increased the number of art venues by over 50% in the last four years alone, says Teachworth. This is great news, but because of the lack of art reviewers in Southeast Michigan, no one really knows how vibrant the Detroit scene is and how fortunate we are to have this many venues.

The purpose of Detroit Art Review is to help artists, and educate and inform the public.Teachworth’s vision is to have the site review and cover more exhibitions, and expand to include a video interview as part of each review. With three full-time reviewers and twelve sponsors, it is the only site fully dedicated to reviewing exhibitions. After retiring from education, Scott started to focus on painting and writing fiction. He was approached by the Cleveland Institute of Arts to cover the Detroit scene for its regional art blog, called Art Hopper. In late 2014 he educated himself on how to use WordPress and start his own review site

The mission at the Detroit Art Review is to review art exhibitions in the Metropolitan Detroit area. Please share your favorite arts landmarks in Michigan and we will share them with DAR while posting them on Facebook.